Aondoakaa, lawyers differ over swearing-in of CJN

By Innocent Anaba & Abdulwahab Abdulah

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, yesterday said the out-going Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi will swear in his successor in office, Justice Aloysius Kastina-Alu, as the new CJN, in the absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua being unable to perform the duty.

Some lawyers, who spoke to Vanguard on the issue were in agreement that the out-going CJN has no powers to do so.

Lawyers disagree with AG
Chief Charles Edowanwa, SAN, former Edo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, said “while the outgoing Chief Justice of Nigeria is still in office, he can only swear in an Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria. He cannot swear in a substantive CJN because it will mean that we will have at the same time, two Chief Justices of Nigeria, since his (out-going CJN) tenure has not expired.

“Even if it remains five minutes, he cannot swear in a substantive CJN, but he can swear in an Acting CJN. The constitutional provision relating to the substantive CJN does not prescribe the particular authority to administer an oath of office for the in-coming CJN. Even though the constitution prescribes that it is the President that will appoint the CJN and submit his name to Senate for approval, and the Senate having cleared him, what is important is that the CJN must subscribe to the oath of office before some one who is qualified to administer an oath and it ranges from a notary public to a commissioner for oath or a high court judge or a judge of a higher court or any judge of superior court of record.

“The constitution is clear on who appoint but not on the subscription of an oath of office for the CJN. The constitution is silence on that, but the important thing is that the oath of office should be administered by any body qualified to do so. Why the President is needed to administer the oath of office for the CJN is because of the nature of the office, which is a high one”, he added.

Mr Bamidele Aturu on his part said, “it is illogical and the law does not sanction such illogicality, because the principle of the law is that you do not do that which is unreasonable. In the first place, if the out-going CJN swears in Kastina-Alu, will Kugiti be swearing him in before his tenure expires? If he swears him in before December 31, it means that we are going to have two CJNs and if he swears him in after December 31, that means that he has no legal right to do so. So on both sides, it is legally impossible for us to have two CJNs. The principle of law, that the law cannot condone the impossible is important here. They should not do anything that is clearly unconstitutional or illegal”.

President of the West African Bar Association (WABA), Mr Femi Falana said the action if carried out is pure illegality and abuse of the constitution.

According to him, “those who said the outgoing Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi can administer the oath of office to his successor are committing illegality. The law is clear about the administer of oath to the CJN. The illegality of the said plan become clear when you consider the fact that at the time the swearing in ceremony is performed by the outgoing CJN, that means we are having two CJN, which cannot be possible.

Let us look at this from another angle. If the outgoing CJN swear-in the incoming one on his last day in office, if he does that during the working hours, that action was not contemplated by the law. It will become illegal and there would be no remedy.

Don’t sideline constitution
“We therefore warn those who are trying to sideline the constitution that the President will sign the supplementary budget from his sick bed in Jeddah to be cautious of their action. If they want to convince Nigerians that the president is ruling or will be ruling from Jeddah, that means they must show his video to convince Nigerians that indeed he is capable and fit to perform his duties as required by the constitution.”

Another Lagos lawyer and rights activist, Mr Jiti Ogunye said : “The position is that section 290 (2) of the 1999 constitution does not stipulate the authority that has to administer the oath of office on the CJN or others unlike the provisions in sections 62, 94, 140 and 185 which stipulate how to administer the oath of office on the officers of the National Assembly, the Governor and the deputy. Andooakaa: It’s a plot to invite military— Ijaw

IMG warns Aondoakaa
THE Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG), in a statement by Joseph Evah,  described the statement credited to Aondoaka as a clear evidence of “how few power-drunk individuals are ready to rubbish the constitution and set Nigeria on fire.”

“We want to alert all Nigerians particularly the International Community that the Ijaw people have discovered three options the enemies of democracy are working on to set Nigeria on fire, they have the pan to invite the military when other options like creating man-made constitutional crisis fail and the attorney-general has started the move in different ways.

“They also have the option of giving the Vice-President late Abiola treatment. Already a northern group has vowed to do that instead of allowing the principles of the constitution to prevail. We fear food poisoning by these heartless and desperate power gambulers. Another plot by these evil men masquerading as political godfathers is to set up the Vice-President and even his wife as coup plotters who want to overthrow President Yar’Adua forcefully.

They have arranged various forms evil plots in order to raise false alarm that the Vice-President want to overthrow his boss like what happen to General Oladipo Diya during Obasanjo era but God is on the side fo the vice-president.”